Information for Health Professionals

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Lead Testing Recommendations for Children

Tip

For health care provider questions on testing or cases, contact the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program at (888) 242-1100 (option 3).

The Statewide Blood Lead Risk Assessment and Testing Plan provides a set of criteria to determine which children should receive a blood lead test. A summary of blood lead testing recommendations are summarized below.

Medicaid requires testing a child at 12 and 24 months, and WIC requires staff to ask whether a participating child has had a blood lead test done in the past 12 months.

Medicaid Requirements for Blood Lead Testing

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires that all children receive a screening blood lead test at 12 months and 24 months of age. Children between the ages of 36 months and 72 months of age must receive a screening blood lead test if they have not been previously screened for lead poisoning. A blood lead test must be used when screening Medicaid-eligible children.

If child does not live in targeted community or enrolled in Medicaid or WIC, providers should use a verbal risk assessment to help determine other factors that could place a child at risk. The questions are below:

Does the child live in or often visit a house, daycare, preschool, home of a relative, etc., built before 1950?

Does the child live in or often visit a house built before 1978 that has been remodeled within the last year?

Does the child have a brother, sister or playmate with lead poisoning?

Does the child live with an adult whose job or hobby involves lead?

Does the child's family use any home remedies or cultural practices that may contain or use lead?

Is the child included in a special population group, i.e., foreign adoptee, refugee, migrant, immigrant, foster care child?

Guidelines for Public Health and Case Management

Required Blood Lead Level Reporting

According to Nebraska Regulations, 173 NAC 1, health care providers and/or laboratories are required by law to submit reports of all blood lead tests, including capillary and venous tests regardless of the result, within seven days of detection.